Artillery and Air Strikes

Made a couple last changes to how artillery and air strikes are handled. As mentioned, previously you had to attempt to call in artillery as you entered an enemy-held area. If it didn’t arrive, you still had to enter the area, perhaps triggering an encounter and had to deal with it without the extra attack.

Now in Alpha 7.2, you begin each day with a set artillery and air strike chance, and may attempt to call in either one on an adjacent area without committing to move into it. The chance is a 2D6 roll, equal or less than your current strike chance. If it’s successful, the area is marked and your strike chance is decreased by one, to a minimum of 2. If you later move into the area and an encounter is triggered, the artillery or air attack occurs at the start of the battle.

My hope with this system is that it’s flexible, allowing the player to invest daylight time into bringing in a strike on a tough but important target area, while forcing the player to think carefully about using up their strike chance to do so. Air strikes take more time and are less likely to arrive at first, but are more effective against vehicles and don’t lay smoke. Infantry units can be pinned by an air strike if they are not destroyed.